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Dame Judith Hackitt recently published her report, Building a Safer Future. The report was commissioned by the Government as an independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety, in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire last year.
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In the final of our interview videos from the seminar earlier in the year, Partner and head of the construction team, David Rintoul discusses with Dr Michelle Agha-Hossein of BSRIA the benefits and advantages of working with the ‘soft landings’ framework, along with some of the contractual and commercial risks to consider....

Technology is rapidly changing the way businesses manage talent. Businesses, new and established, are launching solutions based on everything from artificial intelligence (AI) to blockchain to big data and augmented and virtual reality....

The EAT has held, in Roddis v Sheffield Hallam University, that an employee on a zero hour contract can compare himself to a full-time employee for the purposes of pursuing a claim under the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 (the Regulations). The Regulations provide protection for part-time workers against less favourable treatment on the ground of their part-time status. ...

In the case of City of York Council v Grosset, the Court of Appeal (COA) upheld a decision that an employer was liable for discrimination arising from a disability when it dismissed an employee due to misconduct, even though the employer was not aware that the employee’s conduct was due to his disability. The claimant was Head of English at a school and suffered with cystic fibrosis....

In March, the government unexpectedly announced that Turkish businesspeople and their family members living in the UK under ECAA business visas will no longer have the right to settle in the UK. The Home Office updated its guidance as a result of an immigration tribunal ruling last year involving Hacer Aydogdu, the wife of a Turkish entrepreneur. ...

The technology sector has come under the spotlight for its lack of diversity after a series of high-profile cases of sexual harassment in Silicon Valley companies, including Uber. A series of scandals in the US about predictive policing and facial recognition software that cannot recognise black people have also raised concerns about ethnic discriminations....

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has arrived. Information Age spoke with Monica Atwal, Managing Partner at Clarkslegal LLP, a commercial law firm, about the impact GDPR has had on organisations and the changing value of data....

Russian billionaire businessman Roman Abramovich’s Tier 1 Investor visa extension application is still under scrutiny despite him previously satisfying the Home Office he was eligible. Last week, the Financial Times reported that Abramovich had returned to Russia after his Investor visa expired and his current application is “taking longer than usual” to be processed. Whilst little is known about the reasoning behind the delay, many have speculated that the Home Office is looking into the source of his investment funds....

According to a FOI request to the Home Office, approximately 6,080 skilled workers have been unable to apply for Tier 2 visas due to their sponsors being unable to secure Restricted CoS for them. This relates to CoS applications made between December 2017 to March 2018 and includes 3,500 applications for engineering, IT, technology, STEM teaching and medical roles with professional services making up the remainder. ...

The government have published figures for the 2017-2018 tax year which show that the number of workers who have received back pay due to underpayments of the minimum wage has more than doubled since the previous year. ...

Next week is Mental Health Awareness week (14 – 20 May 2018) so what better time to reflect on the last 12 months which have seen much positive activity in the field of supporting mental health in the workplace. October 2017 saw two comprehensive publications issued: the ACAS guidance “Promoting positive mental health in the workplace” and the Stevenson / Farmer review of mental health and employers, “Thriving at work”. ...

It is not protests in the streets and the overturning of our Government by violence we fear, at least not yet anyway. However, there is a quiet and transformational revolution going on that will deeply affect just about everyone over time....

According to a letter from the Lord Chancellor to the Justice Committee last month, a large number of eligible people have failed to apply for a refund of tribunal fees paid. The Ministry of Justice is sending letters to those affected to try to raise awareness in this regard. ...